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Alfred Amedee Dodds

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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ALFRED AMEDEE DODDS (1842-), French general, was born at St Louis, Senegal, on the 6th of February 1842; his father's family was of Anglo-French origin. He was educated at Carcassonne and at St Cyr, and in 1864 joined the marine infantry as a sub-lieutenant. He was promoted captain for his services during the disturbances in Reunion in 1868-69, in the course of which he was wounded. He served as a company commander in the Franco-German War, was taken prisoner at Sedan but escaped, and took part in the campaigns of the Loire and of the East. In 1872 he was sent to West Africa, and, except when on active service in Cochin China (1878) and Tong-King (1883), he remained on duty in Senegal for the next twenty years, taking a prominent part in the operations which brought the countries of the Upper Senegal and Upper Niger under French rule. He led the expeditions against the Boal and Kayor (1889), the Serreres (1890) and the Futa (1891), and from 1888 to 1891 was colonel commanding the troops in Senegal. At the close of 1891 he returned to France to command the eighth marine infantry at Toulon. In April 1892 Dodds was selected to command the expeditionary force in Dahomey; he occupied Abomey, the hostile capital, in November, and in a second campaign (1894) he completed the subjugation of the country. He was then appointed inspector-general of the marine infantry, and after a tour of the French colonies was given the command of the XX. (Colonial) Army Corps, subsequently becoming inspector-general of colonial troops and a member of the Conseil superieur de guerre.